Family Feud
by snappleapple518
Summary: When Amy's cousin, Amber, comes to visit Amy gets the impression that Amber likes Ty... and that Ty may just like her back. Read and Review, please! COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Heartland, though I would be very happy if I did. My name is not Lauren Brooke, though it is Lauren but that's just an interesting coincidence.

This story takes place Pre-AmyxTy. So somewhere between the beginning of the series to the end of the sixth book I figure.

Family Feud

Amy was just sitting down for dinner when Lou made the announcement.

"Our cousin called." She said bluntly. Amy looked up from her food, and squinted at Lou.

"Cousins… we don't have any… oh, yeah… there is that one cousin." Amy said, rolling her eyes.

"Amy…" Lou scolded, "Please be nice."

"How am I supposed to be nice to that spoiled brat of a human being?" Amy asked, and then regretted her words, as Ty gave her a shocked look from across the table. She smiled apologetically.

"Amber is planning on coming to stay for a week of summer vacation at Heartland." Lou told her. Amy felt her heart sink into her chest. A week… with Amber… at Heartland. Heartland was the place where she was supposed to feel at home, the place where she would run screaming from.

"Lou… please, no. If I remember correctly, Amber doesn't even like horses. And if I remember correctly, she kicked one of our horses the last time she was here. And if I remember correctly it was Pegasus. And if I remember correctly that was Mom's favorite horse." Amy said looking solemn at the thought of it. Amber had proclaimed that Pegasus had given her a "look" and that no one, human or not, would give her a look without consequences. Pegasus, much to the dismay of Marion, had gotten the consequences. Fortunately Pegasus didn't believe that anyone, horse or human, would give him a kick without consequences. Consequently Amber had gone home within the hour, with quite the black eye.

"You remember correctly." Lou said with a sigh.

"Well than why is she coming here?" asked Amy, confused.

"She doesn't have anywhere else to go. Her parents are going away on vacation without her-" Lou began to say, but Amy interrupted her.

"I can't blame them." Amy said, with a small giggle. Lou shot her a look. If Amy had been Amber, Lou would have been immediately kicked, and Amy would have ended up with a black eye.

"As I was saying, she has nowhere to go for next week, and as I can't imagine she has many friends, the way you've described her." Lou sighed, "So being the neighborly folks that we are, she's coming to stay. And that's that. So you're just going to have to live with it. I've already asked Grandpa."

"But-" Amy began.

Lou shot her another look and that shut her up.

Amy sighed… it was gonna be a long week.

---


	2. Chapter 2

**_Chapter 2_**

"So, do you guys have like, anything but hills around here?" Amber asked, as she stared out the car window. Amy had to admit, compared to New York City; there were certainly a lot of hills. But then again… what place doesn't have a lot of hills compared to New York City?

"Nope." Said Amy jokingly, and then she laughed. "Yeah, sure, there's a mall, and a town and other stuff, but there's not really any big attractions." Amy told her, knowing full well that she would be disappointed.

"Wow, this is so different from NYC!" Amber exclaimed in a high breathy voice.

"No, kidding." Amy muttered under her breath.

"What?" asked Amber, but Amy just shook her head.

"Nothing."

The rest of the ride was surprisingly quiet except for the moments when Amber broke the silence with another one of her stupid realizations… which she did quite often. Amy didn't like feeling this way. But horses were Amy's life… and no, she didn't expect everyone to like them, but she did expect everyone to respect them.

Amy wondered what Ty would think of Amber. She was pretty sure that Ty wouldn't like her much, but he would be polite because… well because that was just the way he was.

Not soon enough the ride was over, and then Amy realized that the "ride" wouldn't be over for another week.

---

Amy introduced Amy to Lou, Grandpa, Ty, and Ben, all of which had different reactions to her.

Lou seemed to like the girl fairly well, gave her a hug, and told her that she was so sorry they hadn't ever met before, but she was sure that they would be good friends.

Ty seemed just controlled as always, but not too enthusiastic about the whole situation. He'd already told Amy that he thought having Amber as a visitor might interfere with the healing processes of the horses, and healing horses was hard enough without having a psychotic horse hater hanging around the place. He shook her hand and lifted the corners of his mouth, but didn't actually smile.

Grandpa on the other hand didn't a look all that pleased. He'd been there the last time Amber had visited the farm and never liked to call her by her real name, and instead referred to her as insulting names such as the "stubborn mule". Amu thought it worked well. So Grandpa just shook the girl's hand and nodded politely, not offering any more signs of friendliness than necessary.

Ben's big blue eyes grew wide when he saw her, but once she began talking he seemed to lose interest. He shook her hand and smiled politely.

And then the greetings were over.

Amy figured everyone was glad about that.

---

"So, do you want to see around the place?" Amy asked, after everyone but she and Amber had wandered off to other places.

"Sure." She smiled, "I know I've been here once before, but I really, I don't remember it that much. Just a lot of horses… that's all." She smiled brightly again. Amy couldn't figure out what she was so happy about. Her voice sounded almost dreamy. Amy wasn't sure why she wanted to see the horses, but she figured there was some kind of ulterior motive behind her eager behavior.

Amy motioned that she should come over into the barn. As the came nearer to the door Amy noticed her nose began to wrinkle.

"It stinks." She said, in a whiny voice.

"Well, what did you expect?" said Amy with a laugh.

"Don't you guys have like, air fresheners?" Amber asked. Amy almost scoffed at the question.

"Do you really think an itty-bitty air freshener would take away this kind of smell?" she asked.

"Got any Lysol?" Amber asked. She was completely serious too. Amy rolled her eyes.

"You'll get used to after a day or two." Amy told her, though she wasn't sure that was true in Amber's case.

"I sure hope so." Amber muttered.

Amy saw Ty and Ben walk around the barn door and enter the tack room.

Amber grabbed Amy's arm. Amy almost pulled it away, but figured that that would have been a rude thing for a cousin to do to their one and only cousin, so she just lifted her head to give Amber a questioning glance.

"He is so gorgeous, Amy!" she squealed, but somehow quietly… if that's possible. Amy's eyes narrowed.

"Oh, Ben, yea, lots of people think-" She began but Amber cut her off.

"No… Ty! He's absolutely gorgeous. Don't you think so, Amy? You may like horses and other stuff that I don't like, but don't tell me you don't like _that_." she said, as if that would be the only logical thing to think about Ty. Amy's eyes narrowed even more so.

"No…" Amy said quietly, "No, not really. He's just my best friend… and that's all he'll ever be." Amy knew it was the truth, so why did she feel sick to her stomach right as she said it.

Amber's eyes widened.

"Ame!" she exclaimed, using a nickname that she had seemingly made up at just that moment. Amy had noticed something about popular people… they always squealed and wanted to give other people nicknames, that they never felt the need to ask about. But whatever… "Does that mean I can have him?" Amber asked.

Amy shrugged.

"Sure, you can have him… at least if he wants you. Cause I sure don't want him… as anything more than a friend, anyways." Amy told her, but she felt a funny feeling in her stomach as she was saying it. But this news seemed to excite Amber immensely.

---

Little did she know that Ty was listening…

Ben had already left for another part of the farm, but Ty had still been cleaning up one of the bridles, and had been unconsciously eavesdropping on Amber and Amy's conversation. He'd never thought he'd hear anything like this…

But he knew that he wasn't happy about it.

Whatever Amy felt like, Ty knew how he felt. And it was the polar opposite of Amy: Ty wanted to be more than friends with Amy. And that was that. He had planned on it for quite some time, but being shy as he was he hadn't managed to get up the courage to say anything about it to her. It just wasn't in his nature.

But now this…

Well of course he couldn't go out with Amber…

But maybe…

Just maybe he could use his problem to his advantage.

After all… people say that every cloud has a silver lining.

Right?

---

_How was that? I'm not sure it was a great chapter, but it doesn't really matter that much what I think, as long as you liked it, lol. Anyways, you know the drill, read and review! _

_Thanks for reading,_

_Snappleapple518_

_P.S. yes, that was a little mistake that whole complete thing before. I didn't mean to click it, but I'm just so used to writing one shots that I just clicked it out of habit. Sorry, guys! Thanks for all of you guys who reviewed the last chapter. Sorry if I scared you, lol._


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:**

Throughout the day Amy pondered what Amber had said and Ty- and why did it make her so uncomfortable? Sure, Ty deserved better… but it was more than that. Something she couldn't put her finger on it, but in the end it resulted in some serious flip-flopping in her stomach.

She tried to forget it. Whatever was going to happen was going to happen. It was out of her control at this point.

---

Ty couldn't forget what Amy had said. And this time he wasn't just gonna be quiet old Ty who goes with the flow. He was gong to make things happen.

He felt slightly bad that he was going to be using another poor girl to achieve these goals, but… not bad enough to stop. Trickery and deceitful behavior… not Ty's kind of stuff… Amy was worth it.

---

Amber was feeling kind of nervous. No boy had ever made her feel this nervous. She froze when she saw him. He made her think twice before she said anything.

And so she was practicing- practicing a way to ask out the boy of her dreams.

"Ty," she began, "Would you go out on a date with?" she asked, to no one in particular.

And then he was there, sticking his adorable head through the tack room door, with a big smile plastered on his face.

"Absolutely! Seven?" he asked, even before she could say yes he was gone.

---

_Okay, I know… disappointing chapter. I hadn't updated in like two weeks and I give you that piece of junk. But still, it's better than nothing, and I'll try to update faster and better next time. It's just that I had this story in the Phantom Stallion section that I wrote, and a lot of people liked it, and I just started a sequel and it's taking up a little more thought and time than I thought it would. Plus, I liked the original, and the sequel is flowing pretty well. But anyways… you know the drill, READ AND REVIEW!_

_Thanks for reading,_

_Snappleapple518_

_P.S. You want to know what really sucks? The author's note is pretty much as long as the rest of the story. Darn it! I have to get motivated._


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:**

Amber skipped out of the tack room, and saw that Ty wasn't anywhere in sight. Fast runner as well as gorgeous? Well, she had always liked multi-faceted guys.

Amber was running around the corner of the barn, when she ran smack-dab into Amy who she knocked over.

"Oh, Amy!" she exclaimed, shoving her hand towards her, and hoisting her up off the ground. "I'm so sorry!"

"No, problem." Amy said quietly. She looked like she'd just had her house burn down around her.

"Is something wrong?" Amber asked, somewhat confused by cheerless demeanor. Amy shook her head, but Amber could tell something was wrong anyways. It was then that she remembered the news of Ty and her's ongoing relationship. That would surely encourage Amy during this apparently bad time. Things are usually worse when you don't want to talk about them.

"Oh!" Amber exclaimed, "I have an update!" Amy raised her eyebrows, in what appeared to be a gesture of limited enthusiasm.

"On what?" Amy asked. It didn't look like she was in the mood to chat, so Amber figured she better try to cheer her up and then leave her alone.

"Ty…" Amber said raising her eyebrows with a smile.

"Oh?" Amy said, sounding slightly more enthusiastic.

"Yes… he asked me out on a date." She paused for a second and then continued when Amy said nothing, "Actually it was kind of weird, I was sitting in the tack room talking to-" And this was where Amy interrupted her.

"Uh, I'm sorry. Can we talk about this later? I've got to go do something right now." Amy said, trying to sound apologetic but not quite figuring out the right tone of voice for that kind of thing, and then without waiting for a response from Amber, Amy spun around in the other direction and sauntered away.

Amber stood there by herself, and wondered what had gone wrong.

And as Amy walked towards her house, she began to feel the tears pricking in her eyes. She wiped them away.

"Wow…" she muttered, "My allergies must really be getting the best of me today."

---

Ty watched Amy from the side of the barn, as she strutted towards her house, and it was then that he made his move.

"Hey, Amy." He said quietly, starting to feel his naturally shyness coming back. He wasn't usually shy near Amy but under the circumstances… well, he couldn't help it.

She spun back around, and paused for a second, wiping something out of her eye. He thought it was a tear.

"What's wrong?" he asked, fearing that it was he who was causing this pain. He sure hoped not, but at least if she was feeling some sort of pain about his and Amber's date then that had to mean that she must like him a little bit. Right?

"Nothing, Ty." She snapped bitterly, having to grit her teeth so she would not yell. She didn't want him to think that she was jealous. Cause after all, she wasn't. Was she? No, she wasn't. Or at least she hoped not. Because that, would ruin everything. She started to walk away from him, and toward the safe haven of her house, her bedroom.

"Amy," he said grabbing her arm, which to her dismay caused a burning sensation to tingle through her arm. People always said that was what happened when you liked someone. Drat! "Seriously, if there's something wrong, you can tell me about it." He said.

"There is _nothing _wrong." She protested, and then ripping her arm away from his grasp, she began to walk away again. When she was halfway to her door he called one more thing.

"People don't usually cry about nothing, Amy!" she spun around, and glaring at him, decided that she wasn't going to hold back this time, and spoke without gritting her teeth. Okay… maybe she yelled a little bit… more than a little bit?

"OKAY, FOR YOUR INFORMATION! I HAVE ALLERGIES! SO THANK YOU FOR MAKING FUN OF MY MEDICAL CONDITION, TY!" she shouted, quite loudly, and stormed into her house, slamming the door behind her.

---

_Okay, so that one was actually pretty fun to write. Once, again, I apologize for the whole chapter 3 thing, but there's nothing I could do about it. It sucked. Get over it. So, did you like that one more? Well… you know the drill, and if you don't I'll inform you: READ AND REVIEW!_

_Thanks for reading (because after that last sucky chapter I wouldn't have read the next one),_

_Snappleapple518_


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5:**

Amy rushed up the stairs, ignoring the strange looks she got from Jack and Lou. She whipped open her door, and threw herself onto her bed, and stuffing her face into the soft pillow she cried.

She hadn't cried this much since… well, she'd had never cried close to this much for anything but her mom's death. But what was her problem?

_I don't like Ty!_

_Or maybe… you don't _want _to like Ty? _A strange voice in her head shot back. Amy sighed. Maybe the psycho voice had some merit in its statement.

But she didn't want to like Ty. The thing she had always liked about Ty was that he didn't like her… and she didn't like him. Things were so much less complicated that way. She was friends with this guy Matt, the younger brother of the veterinarian, and ever since he'd started liking her, and she'd had to tell him she didn't like him, she'd felt nothing but awkward. She didn't want things to be that way around Ty. They were best friends! Oh, why did her best friends always have to fall in love with her?!

Amy stuffed her head into her pillow again, and quieting down, she fell asleep… though it was only 7 o'clock. But as she was about to drift off a voice in her head echoed one thought:

_Sometimes things HAVE to get more complicated._

_---_

Amber was waiting nervously inside the house, sitting on the one of the couches. She was ready for a date. Her date. Her date with Ty. She still couldn't get her mind around it. She usually liked cute guys… cute guys usually liked her. But still… Ty was so different than the other cute guys that she knew. He wasn't just _cute; _he was _perfect- _perfect in every way.

She snapped open her cell phone, and phoned up her best friend Sasha from back in New York. She and Sasha were a lot alike. They both liked cute guys… cute guys like both of them. And yet, it was odd, they'd never liked the same cute guy, and the same cute guy had never liked both of them. It was odd really… but totally helpful. Because Sasha and her got very territorial over their cute guys.

The phone rang about three times, and then Sasha picked up.

"Amber!" she screeched into the phone.

"Sash!" Amber screeched right back.

Ty who had just walked in the door heard all the screeching and thought that some cats had gotten in a fight.

"Hello!" he called, and then walking into the room he realized it wasn't a cat- it was his date. And that scared him.

Amber began to hyperventilate. Or at least it felt like she was.

"Ty?" she called timidly.

"Amber, is that a cute guy?" Sash asked, sounding very intrigued, "It _sounds _like a cute guy." She proclaimed.

"Affirmative on the cute guy." Amber declared, and Sash said nothing.

"Affirmative… what does that word mean?" Sasha asked stupidly, and Amber sighed.

"We'll talk about it later. Right now, I've got a date." Amber said proudly, and Sash sighed dramatically.

"But, why can't-" Sash began and Amber gut her off.

"Gotta go!" she whispered, and snapped the phone shut.

"Amber?" Ty called, and Amber felt her heart rate go up again. Amber called that she was in the living room, and Ty kissed her on the cheek. Yes, kissed her. Amber nearly squealed but then she knew that no guy, no matter how cute and nice, would be attracted by that.

And before she knew it, they were off.

_---_

The next morning Amy vowed that she would say sorry to Ty that morning, and just tell him that she'd been feeling slightly moody, and she'd taken it out on him. That was true… right?

She walked outside, and she saw Amber sitting on the steps, looking quite dreamily in the direction of Ty who was working in the pasture with one of the horses. Amy sat down next to her.

"Hey, Amber." She said, and Amber jumped slightly, and turned towards Amy.

"Hey, Amy!" she exclaimed, much too loudly for any person in the morning. Amy sighed.

"Have you seen Ty?" she asked, to see what her reaction would be. Because of course she'd seen Ty. She was seeing Ty as she spoke. And not just seeing him as in seeing a visual picture of him. But she was seeing him, as in dating him. And that- made Amy extremely sick in the stomach area. Actually, her head was starting to hurt a little bit as well.

"He's over there…" Amber said quietly, sounding dreamy, and excited. Amy felt her chest tighten up, and she began to walk away, but Amber pulled on her arm and held her back.

"Amy, Ty and I are going out." She snarled. "And I know you like him. But he likes me! We went on a date! He kissed me last night. He wouldn't have kissed me if he didn't like me… would he have? And I'm pretty sure that on my very whim he'd do it again! And I'll show you right now!" she shouted, and started to run for Ty.

"Okay," Amy muttered, "Can you say personality change?" She had been looking down at the ground but when she looked up she saw Amber wrap her arms around Ty, and lock lips with him. And from Ty's relaxed position, it looked as if he too was enjoying the experience. Actually, he was looking quite aggressive about it.

Amy couldn't stand it anymore.

She turned around, and ran for the barn, with tears streaming down her face. And she didn't care who knew. She was ready to admit it: She liked Ty. She liked Ty! She didn't care who saw.

And as Ty pulled away from Amber he saw Amy running towards the barn, her straight light brown hair flying behind her.

And leaning in towards Amber, he whispered in her ear.

"I can't live this lie anymore, Amber. I don't like you, and I certainly don't love you. Sure, you're cute enough on the outside… but you don't have a beautiful heart… not like Amy does…" he ended in a whisper.

And pushing away Amber, who still had her arms locked around him, and began to run after the girl he truly loved.

---

Amy sat huddled in the barn, sitting next to her horse, Sundance. Apparently, he was the only one who cared about her at this point in time. She lay against him and she cried, and cried and said it over and over.

"I like Ty…" she whispered again and again. She stopped when she heard boots thudding on the floor of the barn aisle that sounded distinctly like Ty's. Yes… she did know what people's shoes sounded like.

"Amy?" Ty asked quietly as he approached the stall she was in. He heard her sniffling, and when he looked in she saw that her eyes were red from crying. And she _still _looked twice as beautiful as Amber would ever look. He smiled at the thought. "Amy, are you okay?" he asked. Amy turned and glared at him.

"Does it _look _like I'm okay?" she asked accentuating every word.

"No…" he said, and chuckled lightly. The sound of his laugh made her want to just take him in her arms and hold him forever. Fortunately he beat her to it. As he wrapped his arms around her, she felt weak, and collapsed in his arms. He smiled.

"What's wrong, Amy?" he asked. She sighed.

"You like Amber." She stated bluntly, because honestly she wasn't embarrassed about liking Ty anymore. It was what it was. But Ty laughed. _Goodness! Does he have to sound so cute when he does that!?_

"No, I don't." Ty protested. She rolled her eyes.

"You were kissing her, Ty. As you girlfriend would say, 'He wouldn't kiss me unless he liked me.'" She mimicked nastily. Ty laughed again, and it made her want to forgive him.

"She's not my girlfriend." He still insisted. Amy felt her blood began to boil. She wouldn't forgive this easily! Amber was right! He wouldn't have kissed her unless he liked her!

"You were kissing her, Ty! You were like, groping the poor girl, you were acting like a crazy animal in mating season. It was disgusting!" she proclaimed loudly, and Ty began to laugh… again. She didn't think it was funny, though.

"Amy…" he whispered her name quietly, "That's not how I would kiss someone I loved." He spoke lightly in his ear. "This, is how I would kiss someone I loved." He said.

And then he began to demonstrate on her.

She pulled away.

"Oh, really… well this is how I would kiss someone I loved." She told him, and began to kiss him back.

---

Amber left the next morning.

She said she'd caught a deadly bought of home-sickness.

Amy figured it was more like love-sickness.

_---_

_Okay… I think that's the end of it. I think that's good enough. If you really think there's something else that needs clarification you can just tell me. But there will be no more chapters unless I deem it necessary. And there will be no sequels. I've done the sequel thing. Let me tell you, it takes a whole lot of work that I'm not really ready to give yet. So you know the drill… READ and REVIEW! Or at least read… hehehe._

_Thanks again for reading,_

_Snappleapple518_


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